Less stress, less success in these idle times

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

Stress, especially of the mental variety, is seen as something to be avoided for our overall well-being.

At chronic levels, it can lead to anxiety, depression or other difficult-to-overcome afflictions of the mind.

Having less stress is a good thing in general. This doesn't mean we shouldn't push ourselves, though.

One proven way to reduce mental stress is to counter it with a bit of physical stress on the body i.e. exercise.

This doesn't need to be of an elite-athlete variety. It can be a case of just being active enough to get the heartbeat up a few notches — a brisk walk, some floor exercises at home, even energetically cleaning the house.

Incorporating such physical movements into one's daily routine doesn't appear too complicated, in theory.

However, with all the technological advancements over the decades leading to an increase in sedentary yet no less demanding and time-consuming forms of employment, some people find it hard to fit in physical activity to get that endorphin, feel-good boost. (OK, some are simply lazy, too.)

Indeed, it's a double negative that doesn't produce a positive (mathematics isn't always helpful in real life). The sedentary but demanding employment, stressful in its own right, can leave one with little time and desire for exercise, thereby compounding the stress.

I can only assume that trying to raise a young family alongside all this makes the situation even more problematic. On the flip side, it might provide some welcome comfort, focus and strength.

Otherwise engaged

Whatever the case, for all of the above, I can't say I'm really having to deal with them right now.

As a single, childless man, the raising of a family is not a factor. (Although, one has had complications of late with the odd mentally straining frenemy.)

As for work, while this year has been particularly troubling in terms of a steady income, the positive is that I don't have the time-consuming, stress-inducing, sedentary employment as a concern. (Do note, with my current skill set, the careers in which I could earn the most are those where one spends a lot of time at a computer.)

This lack of paid employment that would see me tied to one place for hours on end means that I have plenty of time to get out and about. OK, I'm not running marathons but I'm usually on my feet moving more than I'm sitting still.

'It's like I'm in early-midlife retirement, minus any pension.'

The generous me-time also allows for what I feel is a cathartic, relaxing mealtime, in that I get to cook my own meal — I generally just need one — almost every day.

In one sense, it's like I'm in early-midlife retirement, minus any pension of course. Thus, it must be temporary, unless I come into a lot of money soon.

And this is the crucial issue here. The consequences of being economically inactive mean it's not a carefree time. While I'm managing my financial affairs for now, it is, to state the obvious, unsustainable in the mid to long term.

It's one of those scenarios where my back isn't completely against the wall yet. It's why I'm still quite picky about the work I'm willing to do.

As for returning to full-time employment, I would have to be well-remunerated to give up my independence. For whatever I may gain in financial recompense, previous working-for experiences tell me that it comes at a significant stress cost.

Stress test

However, not all mental anguish is inherently bad. Stress leading to anxiety or depression is one thing, challenging oneself to expand knowledge or learn a new skill is quite another.

It's like physical activity. When we push ourselves hard, it's taxing on both body and mind. We can even overdo it to the point of burnout and injury. Yet, not doing it will most likely result in a myriad of far worse health complications sooner or later.

So, with both physical activity and workouts for the mind, it's about finding the balance.

Now, I must say that I feel that my mental health is fairly sound.

Yes, this fallow paid-employment period leaves me with much thinking time. And overthinking can be dangerous for the mind. However, when I'm not distracted by technology or barrio temptations — socialising is important — it also offers plenty of beneficial reading time.

And even with all my free time, I still wish I had more hours in the day to read — I am a slow enough reader — and acquire new knowledge. One can never know enough. And one can never know it all.

While all this is, on the whole, keeping stress at bay, it's not like I have no preoccupations. We all do, of course.

Also, right now, it's not a case of, to borrow from the title of a school book I once used, less stress, more success; success measured in monetary terms this is. It could be said it's more like less stress, less success.

Nonetheless, I'm certainly not searching for ways to unnecessarily increase my stress levels.

I want to be excited about and stimulated by my next challenge, not stressed out about it. Ever the idealist.
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Other media can have Tubridy, but they can't have RTÉ

@wwaycorrigan

A bit of a parochial post this — Ireland is parochial. It's a link to my latest letter in the Irish Examiner about a payment scandal at the national broadcaster, RTÉ, largely, but not exclusively, revolving around one of its now former top presenters, Ryan Tubridy.

The letter was originally published online on 19 August 2023 at https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/yourview/arid-41208160.html.

RTÉ, I am open to offers to work as a radio presenter. And I'll do it for far less than 200,000 euros!

Corrigan calls it.

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Cartagena: A costly Colombian Caribbean city but more relaxed than I'd remembered

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this blog story, click here.]

If you're looking for the definitive visitor's guide to Cartagena, this isn't it.

Cartagena's tourist-heavy nature is a turn-off for some. It has its charms, though.

As one of Colombia's most popular tourist spots, much has been written about it. And because this popularity with Colombians and foreigners alike has seen it become one of the most expensive places in the country to visit, I hadn't been in a rush to go back. The last time I'd been there was in 2011, with my first visit in 2009.

Safe shores

That 2009 trip, accompanied by a Colombian friend who did most of the planning, saw me take in many of the tourist attractions, including a recommended day trip to one of the picturesque Islas del Rosario, Rosario Islands.

The beaches there are — or at least were — more pleasing to the eye than those around the city. This isn't to say the beaches in Cartagena, specifically the Bocagrande sector, are unpleasant. They're fine, no more, no less.

What had bugged me the most in Cartagena was the intensity of the beach vendors — they were far worse than the mid-30 degrees Celsius heat.

Alongside the selling of refreshments and tattoos of questionable quality, one would be offered a massage a minute. These masseuses were as annoying as mosquitoes buzzing around your ear in the middle of the night.

On this latest visit, such vendor force was, thankfully, nowhere near as powerful. Maybe I just got lucky with my timing. Or maybe I was unlucky in 2009 and 2011.

The fact that there was much more of a relaxed vibe for the three consecutive mornings/early afternoons I spent on Bocagrande's western beach, does suggest it has become a little more tranquil. It could be said the ambience is like the surrounding waters, rather calm with only the occasional wild-ish wave.

Indeed, much to my pleasant surprise, I discovered that it was fine to leave my belongings on the beach while I went for a refreshing dip in the sea.

Initially, not only had I asked neighbouring loungers to keep an eye on my stuff but I also gathered it up and left it beside them. No dar papaya and all that.

Yet, I soon noticed that hardly anyone else was being as cautious. Considering how important this sun, sea and sand tourism is to Cartagena, especially in the upmarket Bocagrande, it seems opportunistic thievery has been largely eradicated.

However, in Bocagrande one gets robbed in another, officially sanctioned way: the high prices. For example, a beer on the beach costs around 10,000 COP for a 330-ml bottle of the working man's Aguila brew. That's four times more than the standard price.

'I found it rather curious that El Guerrero's TV gave us live pictures of the toilet. What would one be up to on the loo besides relieving oneself?'

As mentioned, though, Bocagrande is upmarket in what is a Caribbean tourist hotspot. So there's nothing too shocking about the higher prices.

Those on a tighter budget will most likely opt to stay in Cartagena's historic centre or in the chilled-out Manga neighbourhood.

(Regular readers might be surprised to discover that I stayed in Bocagrande, in the four-star Hotel Cartagena Plaza. Don't worry, it's not that I lost my mind and went on a mad spending spree. At a press conference in Bogotá earlier this year, I won a three-night stay there. As fancy hotels go, it was fine. I certainly made the most of the decent spread of food at the buffet breakfasts.)

When my three nights were up at the Cartagena Plaza, it was to Manga I went and the quaint San Jacinto hostel. A dorm bed at 40,000 COP per night, light breakfast included, is about the best value one will get in the city.

The Guerrero of Getsemani

My evening socialising throughout my stay was reserved for the historic centre, inside the old walled city, around Plaza de la Trinidad in the Getsemani barrio to be precise. Well, there and a couple of brief visits to the more unkempt Mercado de Bazurto, the working class's shopping district.

Outside of the centre's liveliness come sunset, there I found a tienda, El Guerrero, that sold litres of my preferred Poker beer for 6,000 COP. That's an acceptable price anywhere in Colombia — except in my local watering holes in my Bogotá barrio — never mind Cartagena. (Do note, even though my bed and breakfast was free for my first three nights, I was still in Cartagena on a tight budget.)

While El Guerrero is popular with revellers — not surprising considering the booze prices — most buy their tipple to drink outside. As is my wont, I positioned myself in a corner at the counter, allowing me to chat with the employees/owners.

I did find it rather curious that the TV in the tienda, via the security camera, gave us live pictures of the toilet. What would one be up to on the loo besides relieving oneself? It did, nonetheless, give another, um, solid reason not to be glued to the box.

WC watching aside, El Guerrero was certainly an interesting place to observe the comings and goings of the diverse folk traipsing around Cartagena's colonial quarter.

Just outside the centre is Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a castle constructed by African slaves under Spanish supervision in the 16th century.

'It was nice to view and enter the sea for the first time since 2018.'

I'm fairly sure that I visited this tourist site for free in 2009, although perhaps my memory is failing me on that one. These days, there's what I consider a fairly hefty entrance fee, 30,000 COP. I gave it a miss this time; the long queues waiting to get in were off-putting, too.

Now, that I enjoyed my stay in the city may be because I went there with low enough expectations. That and the fact that I generally look forward to any escape from Bogotá these days.

As this story has explained, though, there's more to it than that. And in a more basic sense, it was simply nice to view and enter the sea for the first time since 2018.

Sticky stopover

The biggest drawback is getting there from Bogotá, as I detailed in Colombia's plebeian transport: A riveting ride.

As mentioned in that piece, I broke up the marathon return journey with a night-and-day stay in Aguachica in the Cesar department, about halfway between Cartagena and Bogotá.

Well inland at a low altitude, temperatures reach the mid-30s in degrees Celsius.

With hardly a breeze about and no nearby refreshing waters to cool off in, it's one of those places where you could take a shower every hour to stay feeling fresh. I don't particularly mind that, it's just that the town seems to have little going for it. Again, this generally isn't a drawback for me, I can create my own fun.

It must get plenty of visitors all the same, for whatever reason. There are hotels on pretty much every street. It also has an abundance of barbershops and hairdressers.

What annoyed me the most during my brief stay there were the motorbike taxis. They won't leave a wanderer in peace.

I probably need a second, longer visit to give a more rounded review of the place. Like my Cartagena experiences, my opinion of Aguachica might get better with subsequent stays. Return visits are unlikely, all the same.

However, if Hotel Cartagena Plaza wants to gift me more free nights on the Caribbean shores, I could include another stay in Aguachica en route. It certainly does its job as a fairly cheap stopover town.
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Colombia's plebeian transport: A riveting ride

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this blog story, click here.]

'Why are you going by bus when flights are cheap?'

That's how some Bogotá acquaintances reacted when they heard I was taking the land route for my grand return after a 12-year absence to the Caribbean coast city of Cartagena, over 1,000 kilometres away from the capital

Fare deal

Considering the bus journey takes about 26 hours while the flight time is an hour or so, flying certainly has its advantages. Price, though, is not one of them.

There's rarely a dull moment when bussing it in Colombia.

Domestic airfares were similar, even occasionally cheaper, to bus fares during Colombia's low-cost carrier heydey, from 2016 to 2020, roughly speaking. However, with the rather curious departure of Viva Air, closely followed by Ultra Air, bus travel is once again a lot cheaper; generally less than half the price of flight tickets.*

For sure, if it is a time-is-money case at the origin or at the destination — or at both — then the financial savings made by taking the bus would most likely be wiped out in a matter of hours.

In a year of scant paid work, this hasn't been a concern for me. Indeed, taking a little bit more time to get to and from the destination, and thus being out of Bogotá for longer, is a minor bonus.

Land travel also allows for more flexibility and last-minute decisions. Simply turn up at the bus terminal at the moment you want to travel, pay in cash and go. It's often more hectic during religious/school/state holidays, times I tend to avoid in any case.

Another advantage is that you can view the scenery and get a flavour of the towns along the way, fleetingly as this is. (Although, some food/toilet breaks are taken in towns rather than at isolated and expensive service stations and restaurants well outside urban centres. Stopping in a town means one has a bit of choice when it comes to snacking.)

'I had a mildly drunk middle-aged man for company for, mercifully, a short period. What he lacked in stature he made up for in fidgetiness.'

As has often happened with me, one bus journey to a certain destination, um, paves the way for the next trip, in a that-place-I've-just-passed-through-looks-interesting sense.

On this escape to Cartagena, the town of Aguachica in the Cesar department made it onto my to-visit list. I duly did just that, spending a night and day there to break up the return journey to Bogotá. I plan to write more about hot and sticky Aguachica in a later post.

Road reading

Coming back to the benefits of long-haul land travel, it appears that even a mammoth bus trip of 26 hours still leaves one with a smaller carbon footprint than a flight of one hour.

Of course, many of those shouting the loudest about the impending doom due to climate change are too busy saving us all to have time to focus on their own environmentally harmful practices. They are, after all, statistically safer in the air, too. We can't risk further endangering humanity by putting the lives of these heroes at greater risk, can we?

Notwithstanding all the above, as somebody who can be quite restless, I don't exactly look forward with great joy to spending hours locked up in a metal box.

This is offset by the fact that I am travelling, I am going somewhere — when not stuck in traffic, that is — while the dead time gives ample opportunity for reading and pondering.

What one can't really plan for is the aforementioned traffic.

In Colombia, alongside standard causes of congestion such as the sheer volume of vehicles and roadworks, there's also the potential road blockages. These can be natural, i.e. landslides, or human-made in the form of disgruntled workers, social groups or rebel fighters. The latter is not as common as it once was but can still cause disturbances in certain regions.

Noisy neighbours

Another uncontrollable is fellow passengers. Previously, I had a mother with a couple of young kids seated next to me, kids who at one moment would roam over me, the next bawl out, then they'd spew out; sometimes it was all three at once. Rent-a-dad, eh?

On this latest trip, I had a mildly drunk middle-aged man for company for, mercifully, a short period. What he lacked in stature he made up for in fidgetiness. I did contemplate trying to put him to sleep with a knock-out blow. His stop came just in time.

The near neighbours aren't always a pain, though.

Again, on this most recent journey, it was because of Barranquilla-bound student Pleasant Paola and her talking up of Aguachica, her hometown where she boarded the bus, that led me to visit the place on my return from Cartagena. Her gifting me of a piece of torta de tres quesos, three cheeses cake, from the pastry shop La Tortería where she works during college holidays left an impression.

Now, while it's a lottery as to who sits next to you when travelling solo, it's not a complete free for all. On most long-haul/overnight trips, each passenger is assigned a seat. Yet, there's nearly always some dispute and subsequent musical chairs mid-journey.

The seemingly simple solution of insisting people take the seat number stipulated on their ticket doesn't always work. Double bookings appear to be a frequent occurrence. Nonetheless, a lot of the time it's purely because passengers, knowingly or ignorantly, take a different seat.

'Our competitor bus, firmly focused on the duel, unperturbed by pedestrians, managed to squeeze ahead and stop in front of us, blocking our way.'

On-board entertainment had been another contentious issue — anyone for another ire-raising Fast & Furious movie? — but it seems many bus operators are now leaving that, literally, in the hands of the passengers and their smartphones.

Newer buses with some companies now also come with seat-back screens with various entertainment options so the individual can choose what to watch, listen to or play. Or silently opt-out. I've experienced these screens with Berlinas and Expreso Brasilia.

Knight driving

Now, even if you get the perfect fellow passengers and non-invasive entertainment, the bus drivers will invariably take you on an emotional — and physical — rollercoaster.

In keeping with the Colombian motorist standard, the bus drivers' overall aim is to push the boundaries of land travel. Passengers, if thought of at all, are merely pawns.

I was privileged to have front-row seats to the duel between my bus, from the Concorde company, and bitter rival Copetran; a modern take on the medieval game of jousting.

It took place on the rather narrow road between Barranquilla and Cartagena. One of the notable feats was a daring act of undertaking by our Concorde driver.

In fact, I thought it was the clincher. Concorde, true to its name, sped away. You can't, though, keep a good Copetran down.

In a busy town en route, our competitor bus, firmly focused on the duel, unperturbed by pedestrians, managed to squeeze ahead and stop in front of us, blocking our way.

In a highly controversial move, the rival driver alighted his charge and approached the window of our Concorde conductor. Not only did he fire angry words at our driver but he also dealt him a slap in the jaw, mild as it was. I believe that left it in a tie. Dates for the rematch have yet to be announced.

The things one misses out on when flying, eh?

Train of thought

Outside of happenings on the bus and between rival buses, Colombia's road infrastructure is another challenge.

For sure, the Andes present their own unique problems, such as the aforementioned landslides.

Yet, on the journey from Bogotá to the Caribbean, after entering the Cesar department at the town of San Alberto, the mountains give way to low-lying plains. Here you get the first significant stretch of dual carriageway since Bogotá-Tunja.

The frustrating part is that this dual carriageway is intermittent. What makes this frustration worse is that all along the way are unfinished works.

They are all part of the Ruta del Sol, Route to the Sun project, mired in controversy and corruption as it has been for years. So all along one is given reminders of how much shorter the journey could be if only the works were finished.

If it takes me another 12 years to return to Cartagena, the route might be fully ready by then.

Or maybe Colombia will come to embrace the joys of modern, efficient train transport. Let's resurrect the railways!

*A note on prices: I paid 130,000 COP for a one-way direct trip from Bogotá's northern bus terminal (Calle 192) to Cartagena with Concorde. The return trip was more expensive as I did it in two legs. It was 80,000 COP from Cartagena to Aguachica with Copetran and another 80,000 COP with Brasilia from Aguachica to Bogotá.
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